Ad Hoc Human Rights Court Report No. 5

Ad Hoc Human Rights Court

East Timor/Indonesia

English

The acquittal is hardly surprising. The problem is that when the “not guilty” verdict was issued, the other cases concerning different defendants but with the same context of indictment and incidents were still in process. If we are within the same scope of presumption with the process of examination, indictment, substantiation and charge of the cases the defendants acquitted today, then such acquittal will influence all the other cases.

A Human Right Court processing crime against humanity should avoid the danger of it becoming a mock court. Thus the court should exert maximum effort in conveying the truth concerning the root and nature of the incident in order to avoid sharpening prejudice in the future. In order to meet this end the prosecutor and panel of judges should have paid attention to the reason behind the establishment of the court and the composition of Law on Human Right Court.